Abdeslam Ouaddou heaps praise on Pirates hierarchy

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Ouaddou hails Pirates management

Photo: Abdeslam Ouaddou

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has heaped praise on the club’s hierarchy for giving him ample time to implement his style of play after a false start to his tenure.

The former Morocco international had big shoes to fill as he took over from Jose Riveiro, who guided the Soweto giants to five domestic cup titles in three years, and the pressure was immediate.

Ouaddou lost his first two league outings to Sekhukhune United and Marumo Gallants, respectively, prompting the Bucs faithful to call for his sacking two months into the job.

However, the management didn’t pull the plug and the 47-year-old tactician went on to win the MTN8 title and the Carling Knockout Cup this past Saturday, and hails the management for the feat.

“What is very important is the trust, and I am very lucky because I am in a club managed by professional people, I am in a club where people are thinking football, have a vision, have a project and they know exactly where they want to reach, what target they want to reach,” said Ouaddou.

“And I was lucky because they know that these two games [we] lost is just part of the process and they gave me time. In some other clubs they don’t give you time, you lose one game, two games you’re out.

“So, it’s what gives me passion, it’s what gives me trust to work with the management because they know exactly football and they know that sometimes a process [can] take a little bit of time to get results, so we are in the process, we are doing well.

Notably, Pirates are also two points clear at the summit of the Betway Premiership table, but Ouaddou has urged his troops to keep their feet on the ground.

“But football is very difficult because if you sleep and you think that you reached the target and you think you are the best, sometimes you can slip again, so for us it will be important to keep working, to be humble and to keep the straight path in order to reach the target,” he added.

Source: Sports Yahoo